DOC projects with committed communities

Predator free (and ideally wilding pine free) Rangitoto Island

  Photos credit: Island Solutions

Top photo: Wilding pines are a threat to native forest on Rangitoto. Drones were used to locate, map and photograph individual trees before their removal.

Bottom photo: Two of the 1012 wilding pines removed from Rangitoto. 

In February 2025 the Minister of Conservation committed $3.5 million of IVL funding to wilding conifer control to be completed by June 2025. Of this, $150,000 of this was targeted for a DOC project on Rangitoto Island. It was put to good use removing over a thousand wildings. 

This iconic island which graces the ocean view along Auckland’s eastern coastline, is a tourism and economic drawcard with over 100,000 visitors a year. It’s an incredibly important place ecologically - a predator-free island, it has the largest pōhutukawa and rātā dominated forest in the world.

‘Always naturing’ and often preserving history too

In the Coromandel, DOC is partnering with Waikato Regional Council on a project to remove wilding pines from Opera Point Historic Reserve on the Peninsula. Wildings affected by extreme weather are causing damage to historic pā sites and other aspects of the reserve. The location Te Rehutai is important to Ngāti Hei ki Wharekaho, Ngāti Huarere and Te Patukirikiri. The Whangapoua Community Association has committed to doing follow up work to prevent wildings re-establishing after the two-year project, which kicked off in autumn 2025.

One small tree removal operation, a big win for wilding control 

A relatively small project in Hanmer Springs was a huge win for both Northern Canterbury and South Marlborough landscapes, and for the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme. 

A harvesting operation at the St James Homestead is complete and is a small project but an important win for reducing seed spread into the surrounding hills, and the resulting ongoing wilding control costs. The St James Homestead, managed by DOC, is a historically significant site and is the location for the bi-annual St James horse sale.

The trees surrounding the homestead were causing a significant wilding problem in the adjacent Public Conservation Land and on Molesworth Station and their removal avoids the ongoing repeated spend on wilding control.

Log sales from these trees helped to offset the costs of the operation. DOC has worked carefully with the community who have a strong connection to this place and has prepared a replanting plan to re-establish the site with low spreading and native trees and plants. Now with the mess of control work completed, planting is underway.

Tree removal is messy! A replanting plan will ensure the historic St James Homestead site is restored to an attractive feature for the community who value it.